Beck and FOX and My Friend Ted…

It’s been awhile since I posted but I read two articles yesterday that got me going again. One was on the recent skewerings of Glenn Beck and condemns Jon Stewart, Andy Cobb, and The Onion for making light of his physical problems of late. The other was on FOX news and its ridiculous claim of Fair and Balanced. And then there’s my “friend” who we will call “Ted” to protect his anonymity. This may be too much to go after in one post. But I’m going to try. Let’s start with Beck.

Glenn Beck had some botched hemorrhoid surgery recently and then had to undergo an appendectomy. Jon Stewart did a fairly funny (not hysterical… at least not to me… I’m sure it’s on YouTube) bit on Beck’s internal organs. Andy Cobb (who I guess has become a little bit of a YouTube sensation) did a little video which quotes an erotic fantasy from one of Becks books… that involves him and his sister. And The Onion (always a personal favorite) did a video in which a newscast covers the tragic story titled "Victim in Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck."

Now, the article I read was by some guy named Gary Sussman. I’m really not sure who he is (can anyone enlighten me?). He’s written a lot of articles on TV shows. Stuff like “so and so will be returning to The Edge Of Wetness (see Johnny Carson)” or what programs are improving vs. getting weaker as they age. I’m not sure how this qualifies him but WTF… I’m hardly qualified and I write this shit so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. But Gary, come on. Glenn Beck has placed himself squarely in the sights of liberals, and probably centrists, with his mindless babble. When you do the shit that Glenn Beck does you become a target. If Gary thinks mocking Glenn Beck’s illness is out of line might I suggest he tackle more relevant topics like why George Bush sent thousands of US soldiers to their deaths in Iraq? I’m guessing any one of those brave men or women would trade their medical problems for Beck’s botched hemorrhoid surgery any day. Did you know Glenn Beck has stated he would like to see Michael Moore dead.

Oh, and before I forget… I to need to be fair and balanced. When Beck wrote that piece on sex with his sister, it was not written because he’s a pervert who wants to have sex with his sister. It was apparently written as a means of comparing sex with your sibling to gay marriage. See? He’s not a pervert. He’s an asshole. I say we needle him incessantly about his botched hemorrhoid surgery. How did he get those hemorrhoids in the first place? From his wife?

Now is the Onion piece out of line? I’m not a big fan of anything that makes fun of death or in any way implies someone would be better off dead. There are of course obvious exceptions. Osama Bin Laden immediately comes to mind. Have at it with that bastard. But as a general rule implying someone should be dead is kind of a low blow. But I think Beck opened up that can of worms when he opined about Michael Moore don’t you? The Becks, Limbaughs, Coulters, etc. of this world are fair game as far as I’m concerned. They have brought it on themselves.

With regard to the FOX News piece, the author (an obvious liberal) states a case for why FOX is un-American. And it’s a good case. He claims they make a mockery of the news media by slanting everything to the right. He goes on to say that they set a bad example by demonstrating that the creation of news out of opinion sells. And he’s right. Just listen to any self respecting conservative sing the praises of that horrid network. Do you want to find out if a network is slanted one way or the other? Check the demographics of its viewers. How is it possible that SO many conservatives think FOX is the definitive news source in America while so many liberals do not? Same thing for MSNBC. How can so many liberals think that’s the definitive news source when so many conservatives do not? But here’s the difference. If you ask a liberal what his favorite news station is, you won’t ALWAYS get MSNBC as your answer. But if you ask a conservative... go try it.

Which brings me to Ted (again, not his real name). Ted was a friend of mine from college. He’s a really bright guy. We reconnected via Facebook and I was genuinely glad to hear from him. But as we conversed over time he showed himself to be a VERY radical right wing nut. HIS favorite network was FOX. I asked him once what he thought about Limbaugh and he said something like “I thank God every day for that man”. He referred to our President as “Obiwan” (which I don’t really take issue with as such… I refer to GW as THE MORON… of course GW IS a MORON). Well, we got into it a little and he fucking de-friended me! One day, I wondered why I wasn’t seeing his daily moronic post about some right wing bullshit and when I checked up on him, he wasn’t my friend anymore!

So, in light of that, I am now free to express my utter amazement at how conservative principals can turn a bright successful middle aged man into a fucking dolt! He believed Obama was a socialist. He ranted and raved and spit his filth about the “libtards” and the “sheeple”. He told me what a great guy Karl Rove was. Now to be fair, I wouldn’t be all that crazy about an ultra liberal who was way out there. But where are they? I know a fair amount of ultra conservatives but I honestly can’t think of any truly ultra liberals that I know personally. At least none that I would lable a "conservotard". I’m beginning to think that these right wing-nuts are a bunch of cry babies who are terrified of what amounts to nothing! I think liberal America is FAR more willing to compromise and thereby far more realistic to the reality that TOTAL acceptance of one and only one viewpoint is not good for the country.

Way back when I was a frat boy (yeah I know… sue me). I belonged to a pretty hip frat that liked to party like there was no tomorrow. But we had our share of book worms and wannabe doctors and lawyers etc. When I first pledged I asked one of the older brothers how these guys got in (I was having a hard time understanding why you would want the guy next door bitching at you to turn down the music while you were engaged in the merriment of youth). He told me the frat needed balance. Every brother had his reason for being there and too many partiers or too many ultra serious students wouldn’t be good for the long term health of the fraternity. Ha! Look at that. A twenty year old kid had more wisdom than the collective conscience of the entire far right. Go figure.

Peace,

Common Sense